1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally concerns containers and packaging, including gift wrap, parcel packages and shopping bags such as are all commonly made from paper.
The present invention particularly concerns (i) high-quality typically-decorative rectilinear shopping bags such as are commonly made from strong, thick, and, occasionally, coated papers, in combination with (ii) parcel packages, parcel package papers, and parcel packing techniques both for presentation as gifts or, alternatively, mailing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention will be seen to concern a gift wrapping package that comes into use substantially completely assembled (although pre-assembly is not the gravamen of the present invention).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,903 to Mahoney for a GIFT WRAPPING PACKAGE shows a gift wrap package including a paper bag of conventional type having a square folded bottom and side folds providing a bag of generally rectilinear shape. An insert inside the bag supports one or more of the bag sides and gives the bag the appearance of a box. A rectilinear lid closes the open mouth of the bag. In one embodiment, a pair of handles are affixed to the bag and extend through slots in the lid. In another embodiment, the handles are attached to an intermediate portion of the bag and extend alongside the lid. Suitable ribbons or bows may be applied to the package.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,815 to Savage for a PRE-WRAPPED GIFT PACKAGE provides a method of forming a pre-wrapped gift package which appears to have been hand wrapped. The method includes forming a sheet of box construction material with decorative paper affixed thereto into a box tube by joining ends thereof. The box construction material is properly creased and provided with flaps so that a consumer may fold the flattened box tube into a box so that the end flaps form ends of the box and the decorative paper forms a pair of paper flaps which may be overlapped and taped. A flattened pull bow is provided to form a gift wrapping kit with the flattened box tube which may be distributed and displayed in a flat package.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,313 to McAdam for a GIFT WRAP AND CONTAINER ASSEMBLY shows a flat wrapping container assembly adapted to be folded to form a container having a frame-like support structure disposed therein. The assembly includes a thin, flat sheet of flexible wrapping material and a foldable support structure, which has a center panel and a plurality of outer panels forming frame arms extending outward from the center panel adhered to an inside surface of the sheet. The support structure further has fold lines between the center panel and the outer panels that are adapted to allow the outer panels to pivot upward above the center panel about the fold lines. A pull cord is attached to the flexible wrapping material and to the support structure and is adapted to draw the outer panels and portions of the sheet extending therebetween upward above the center panel when opposite ends of the pull cord are pulled outward away from the center panel, thereby forming a container around an article positioned on the center panel.
The present invention will also be seen to concern a shopping bag combining another function at a later time than use of the bag for shopping.
It is known in the prior art to combine various functions with a shopping bag. U.S. design Pat. No. D274,104 to Bockus shows a COMBINED FOLDING SEAT AND SHOPPING BAG. U.S. Design Pat. No. D332,696 to Kendrick shows a COMBINED SHOPPING BAG AND COUPON STORAGE ORGANIZER. U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,595 to Mittelmann is for a COMBINATION HANDBAG AND SHOPPING BAG.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,874 to Berenguer for a PORTABLE ARTICLE CARRIER concerns a bag, e.g. a shopping bag, which is made of foldable material, is provided with a case, smaller than the bag, secured to the bag adjacent the mouth thereof. The case has two compartments, one of which serves for storage of the bag, when appropriately folded, and the other of which can be used as a purse. The bag can thus be conveniently packed away in the case when not in use.
A more extensive device is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,898 to Hubbard. The Hubbard device comprises a combined wallet, shopping bag, and over-the-shoulder purse for carrying miscellaneous articles. It includes a vinyl sheet having two half portions connected together along a central crease line, a zipper along the borders of the half portions for connecting the two half portions together when the latter are folded over on the central crease line, a zippered pocket opening in each of the half portions of the vinyl sheet, a foldable cloth bag, for example of nylon or acetate, having a bottom sewn to the vinyl sheet with the sidewalls extending substantially from the edges of the vinyl sheet, the bag being foldable and containable within the vinyl sheet when the half portions thereof are folded over and held together by being zippered along their borders, the vinyl sheet forming the interior bottom portion of the bag when the latter is pulled inside-out, and a pair of foldable handle straps stitched to the outside of the bag sidewalls adjacent the top edges thereof for carrying the device as a shopping bag.
The Hubbard device further includes a shoulder strap that is suspended from loops sewn to the outside surface of the bag sidewalls at a selected distance from the top edge of the bag such that upon folding the bag inwardly down to the level of the shoulder strap, pulling the shoulder strap collapses the bag sidewalls to close the top of the bag, the shoulder strap then being slidable over the shoulder for carrying the device as an over-the-shoulder purse. In one embodiment the handle straps for hand carrying the bag are arranged to provide several of the loops for suspending the shoulder strap. In another embodiment loops separate from the handle straps are provided for suspending the shoulder strap to the sidewalls of the bag. In still another embodiment the means for carrying and closing the bag comprises a cord interlaced through eyelets that are arranged around the periphery of the bag adjacent the top thereof. Pulling the cord collapses the sidewalls of the bag to close the top. When evenly pulled to both sides of the bag, the loops of the cord enable the bag to be carried by hand as a shopping bag. When pulled to one side only, the single loop of the cord enables the bag to be carried over the shoulder as a purse.